Verizon 3Q profit rises, bolstered by wireless

NEW YORK (AP) — Verizon's Share Everything plan looks like it's good for the company's shares, too.

The parent of the nations' largest cellphone company on Thursday reported a blow-out number of new devices on its network, boosted by the revolutionary plan, introduced four months ago. The plan made it cheaper for households to add wireless service to non-phone devices like tablets and laptops.

Verizon Wireless added a net 1.5 million devices to contract-based plans in the third quarter, more than it has in many years. Analysts were expecting it to add about 900,000. Including non-contract devices, overall additions were the strongest in four years.

Verizon said 13 percent of its customers with contract-based plans were already on Share Everything, signaling that the plan has caught on, helped by aggressive advertising.

The average household with a contract-based plan paid $145.42 per month in the quarter for wireless service, up 6.5 percent from a year ago.

The end of the quarter saw the launch of the iPhone 5, which also helped Verizon's numbers.

For the three months ended Sept. 30, New York-based Verizon reported earnings of $1.59 billion, or 56 cents per share. That's up from $1.38 billion, or 49 cents per share, a year ago.